Hesketh Pearson:

An Inventory of His Papers in the Manuscript Collection at the Harry
Ransom Humanities Research Center

Creator:

Pearson, Hesketh, 1887-1964

Title:

Hesketh Pearson Papers

Dates:

1789-2001 (bulk 1921-1964)

Abstract:

The Hesketh Pearson Papers document
the career and personal life of the biographer and author of short stories, dramatic
works, and travel books through correspondence, manuscripts, proofs, photographs,
clippings, diaries, and notebooks. The papers were formerly in the possession of
biographer Michael Holroyd, who served as Pearson's literary executor and, after the
death of Pearson's widow Joyce in 1975, his heir; consequently the collection also
includes papers and correspondence generated by Holroyd in these capacities

RLIN Record ID:

TXRC03-A16

Extent:

12 boxes, 1 bound volume (5 linear feet)

Language:

English

Repository:

The University of Texas at Austin, Harry Ransom Humanities
Research Center

Hesketh Pearson published his first full-length biography, Doctor Darwin, when he was 43. By the time of his death thirty-four
years later he had written another eighteen biographies, three travel books (all
with Hugh Kingsmill), three books of reminiscences (one written with Malcolm
Muggeridge), four collections of brief lives, a collection of short stories and
essays, and a book on the craft of biographical writing, as well as numerous
articles and talks. In England he was the most popular and successful biographer of
his time.

He was born Edward Hesketh Gibbons Pearson on 20 February 1887 in Worcestershire,
England, to Thomas Henry Gibbons Pearson, a farmer, and the former Amy Mary
Constance Biggs. Instead of pursuing his education beyond grammar school, he worked
at a series of jobs and traveled through North and South America. In 1911 his
passion for Shakespeare and the theater led him to try his hand at acting, and he
joined the company of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, playing minor roles. He also acted
with the companies of Harley Granville-Barker and Sir George Alexander.

After three years' service during World War I with the Army Service Corps in the
Middle East, during which he was mentioned in dispatches and earned the Military
Cross, Pearson left with the rank of captain and returned to the stage. He began
writing short stories and articles and published his first book, Modern Men and Mummers, a collection of biographical
vignettes, in 1921. With the success of his first full-length biography, Doctor Darwin (1930), he left the stage and supported
himself by writing for the rest of his life.

In 1912 he married the actress Gladys Rosalind Bardili, and they had a son, Henry Car
Hesketh Pearson, who was killed in 1939 in the Spanish Civil War. Gladys died in
1951 and the same year he married Dorothy Joyce Ryder, who survived him.

A mutual interest in Frank Harris led to his meeting Hugh Kingsmill Lunn in 1921, and
the two formed a close friendship. Lunn dropped his last name when he began
publishing biographies and novels and was known both professionally and privately as
Hugh Kingsmill. Together they wrote three books of a unique mix of travel writing,
reminiscence, and literary gossip. Kingsmill died in 1949.

Michael Holroyd, Pearson's heir and literary executor, was born in London on 27
August 1935. After work in a solicitors' firm and service in the army, he made the
acquaintance of the novelist William Alexander Gerhardie, who encouraged him to
produce his first biography, Hugh Kingsmill: A Critical
Biography (1964), during the writing of which he and Pearson became
friends.

His next book was the highly successful Lytton Strachey: A
Critical Biography (1967-1968), followed by Augustus John: A Biography (1974-1975). By this time Holroyd was so
esteemed as a biographer that he received a record £625,000 advance for his next
book, which was the four-volume Bernard Shaw
(1988-1992), a project that took almost twenty years to complete and was received
with unprecedented acclaim.

The Hesketh Pearson Papers document the career and personal life of the biographer
and author of short stories, dramatic works, and travel books through
correspondence, manuscripts, proofs, photographs, clippings, diaries, and notebooks.
The papers were formerly in the possession of biographer Michael Holroyd, who served
as Pearson's literary executor and, after the death of Pearson's widow Joyce in
1975, his heir; consequently the collection also includes papers and correspondence
generated by Holroyd in these capacities. The papers are arranged in five series:
Series I. Works, 1894-1982 (8 boxes); Series II. Correspondence, 1910-1963 (2
boxes); Series III. Personal, 1789-1959 (7 folders); Series IV. Joyce Pearson,
1964-1975 (2 folders); and Series V. Michael Holroyd, 1926-2001 (21 folders).

The Pearson papers throw light on the working processes of a biographer: how subjects
are chosen or abandoned, where and how biographical information is sought,
negotiations with publishers, and the difficulties that can arise in dealing with
subjects or their heirs. In addition, Pearson's correspondence and diaries are
replete with opinions on literary, political, and religious topics as well as
information on the subjects of his books, details of his working methods,
information about his and his correspondents' personal lives, and discussions of
well-known figures living and dead, particularly in the fields of literature and
theater.

Series Descriptions

Series I. Works, 1894-1982, 8 boxes

This series is divided into two subseries: A. Books, 1894, 1920-1982, and B.
Other Works, 1903-1959. The subseries dealing with his book-length works is
arranged alphabetically by book title, reflecting the way many of his papers
were originally filed, including those letters and clippings he frequently
placed inside his personal copies of his books; the Correspondence series may
also contain material on the same subjects, as Pearson's filing was not always
consistent. Within each title materials are arranged in this sequence:
manuscripts, correspondence, research materials, page proofs (all of which bear
corrections in Pearson's handwriting), illustrations, and clippings. Authors of
correspondence are identified in the Index of Correspondents in this guide.

Most of Pearson's books are represented by at least some materials in the
collection, beginning with his first full-length biography, Doctor Darwin (1930). Handwritten manuscripts are
here for Pearson's two last books: Extraordinary
People (1965, incomplete) and Hesketh Pearson by
Himself (1965). Correspondence in the collection indicates that
Pearson and, after his death, his wife sold most of his manuscripts as well as
his correspondence with such famous figures as George Bernard Shaw, Frank
Harris, and Winston Churchill. Of particular note in this series are
correspondence and clippings documenting the extremely unfavorable reaction of
some of the children of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to Pearson's biography of their
father, particularly that of Adrian Conan Doyle; these materials are arranged
chronologically and extend into the period of Holroyd's executorship in order to
present more fully the history of this episode. The correspondence and research
materials for Extraordinary People mainly concern
Frank Harris and include a 1920 letter from Sir Basil Thomson of the
Metropolitan Police discussing Harris's pro-German activities during World War
I. Throughout the correspondence and research materials there are many
transcriptions of letters by figures such as Shaw, Harris, Alfred Douglas,
Beerbohm Tree, and Gilbert and Sullivan that were used in writing the
biographies; these transcriptions have not been indexed.

The Other Works subseries contains mostly shorter works written by Pearson:
articles, book reviews, diaries, dramatic works, juvenilia, a notebook, and the
manuscripts or page proofs of short stories and talks. All items are arranged
either alphabetically by title or chronologically if untitled. The juvenilia are
two volumes of a "magazine" the teenaged Pearson wrote for his family, primarily
containing brief lives of famous persons. The diaries, covering 1923-1924 and
1940-1959, are a rich source of information about Pearson's extremely wide
circle of friends in the literary world. The diaries for 1940-1941 were
supplemented by Pearson with indexes of persons mentioned in their pages. The
last actual diary entry is on 6 August 1945, followed by several dated notes
made by Pearson as he reread the volumes over the next few years.

Series II. Correspondence, 1910-1963, 2 boxes

The correspondence is arranged in alphabetical order by correspondent, with
incoming and outgoing letters interfiled. A highlight of the papers is Pearson's
lively correspondence (1921-1949) with his close friend and coauthor Hugh
Kingsmill. Their letters, numbering over 700, are not complete: there is no
correspondence from Kingsmill for the year 1946, and Pearson's letters between
15 August 1940 and 25 January 1948 are missing. Occasionally they enclose
correspondence from other writers with their letters; these third-party letters
have been indexed only when they are originals and not transcriptions. Other
correspondents well represented in this series are the playwright Norman Hunter,
Shaw's friend Eleanor O'Connell, Harris's former associate A. P.
Buckland-Plummer, Harris's literary executor Arthur Leonard Ross, Wilde
biographer Robert Sherard, Scott scholar Percy R. Stevenson, and writer P. G.
Wodehouse. The Wodehouse folder also contains Pearson's 1947 correspondence with
Frank Soskice of the Royal Courts of Justice in an effort to determine if, on
Wodehouse's return to England, he would be prosecuted for having participated in
German radio broadcasts during World War II. Although Pearson was the biographer
and close friend of Shaw and knew Harris well, no original letters from either
are in this collection.

Series III. Personal, 1789-1959, 7 folders

Among the personal items in the collection are the correspondence of Pearson's
mother's family (including the Biggs, Bree, and Moilliet families) from 1789 to
1912 and arranged chronologically; records, correspondence, medals, and a
photograph album containing about 225 photographs documenting his military
service in Mesopotamia during World War I; acting scripts for the Forum scene in
Julius Caesar prepared by Granville-Barker
and Tree and used by Pearson during his career on the stage; various birth and
marriage certificates and driver's licenses; the program of Pearson's memorial
service and obituaries; and snapshots and portrait photographs. Among the
photographs is a series of snapshots of Pearson, his first wife Gladys, and
their friends John Wardrop and Eleanor O'Connell taken by George Bernard Shaw on
an occasion that is recorded in Pearson's diary for 6 August 1945.

Series IV. Joyce Pearson, 1964-1975, 2 folders

Most of the letters addressed to Pearson's widow Joyce are letters of condolence
upon her husband's death in 1964. There are also a few letters written to and
from friends and family before her death in 1975. Everything in this series is
arranged alphabetically by correspondent.

Series V. Michael Holroyd, 1926-2001, 21 folders

In this series Holroyd's works are grouped together and arranged alphabetically,
followed by a small number of business papers mostly consisting of book
contracts, his correspondence arranged alphabetically with incoming and outgoing
letters interfiled (including several letters from Pearson), and finally some
third-party works and correspondence and a small amount of unidentified
materials. The bulk of Holroyd's papers concern his biography of Kingsmill,
written with guidance from Pearson; his involvement with the publication of new
editions of Pearson's works; and his own articles on Pearson and Kingsmill. The
chronologically arranged correspondence associated with the writing of Hugh Kingsmill (1964) tells the story of Holroyd's
difficult negotiations with Kingsmill's widow, Dorothy Hopkinson, over the use
of Kingsmill's literary remains and includes several letters from Pearson.

Elsewhere in the Ransom Center (in the George Bernard Shaw Collection) is the
typescript of Pearson's biography of Shaw, G.B.S.: A Full
Length Portrait (1942), with extensive corrections and additions in
Shaw's handwriting. A large number of letters from Shaw to Pearson and a few from
Pearson to Shaw are in the same collection. The Frank Harris Collection also
contains Pearson correspondence.

Letters from Pearson to his publishers and to other correspondents such as Shaw are
housed at the University of Bristol Library and at Cornell University. Handwritten
manuscripts of many of his books are at Northwestern University Library.

The purchase also included almost one hundred books, about two-thirds of which are by
Pearson and the rest primarily by Hugh Kingsmill. Many of Pearson's copies of his
own books bear his handwritten emendations to the text, which may or may not have
been incorporated into subsequent editions. All books were transferred to the Ransom
Center Library.

In addition, about forty theater programs from 1880 to 1932, mostly documenting
Pearson's career as an actor, were transferred to the Performing Arts Collection at
the Ransom Center; a detailed listing is available on request.